Photo Credit Lexie Alley.
With Honeyland, Maeve’s lyrical nuance and songwriting prowess takes center-stage, marking her a true artist to watch for 2024. Her new collection follows a string of successful singles in 2022, including “Slow Down” and “Tycho”
Influenced by the edgy, ethereal indie-rock of Lana Del Rey and the literary prose of Joan Didion and Maggie Nelson, Maeve self-describes as “Americana-noir.” Through her songwriting expertise, Maeve’s music weaves a tapestry of emotions and intimate experiences. Her unique sound, which draws from the worlds of folk, country, and indie rock, combines deep-rooted storytelling with captivating melodies.
What prompted you to write this EP? Any specific life experience or event behind it?
I wrote these songs over the course of a few months. It was right before I turned 25, and was thinking about aging and childhood and nostalgia in a way that felt more melancholy than it ever had before. Right when I was finishing up the project and trying to tie it all together, I went to Japan with my mom and little sister. We did a lot of the traditional onsens (hot spring baths), and it just made me think about girlhood turning into womanhood. It inspired the thread of the shared experience of women throughout generations, how it warps but also how it remains the same. Without that experience I don’t think the EP would have turned out the way it did.
What is the main message of the EP?
I don’t know if it has a clear message, as much as musings throughout. Maybe more questions than answers. To me, my takeaway was recognizing the beauty of getting older and feeling how shared so many of our human experiences are, like the bittersweetness of nostalgia and its inherent comforting yet distorting affect.
What are your goals in 2024 both as an artist and person?
I want to make a full album! I really liked approaching this EP as an entire concept, instead of just a series of songs, and I would love to expand that process into an LP. As a person, I want to be less guarded in every aspect of my life. Less of a perfectionist, whether that’s in writing music or making breakfast. Less inhibitions in 2024!
